Transcript THE NEW FRONTIER JFK & THE COLD WAR

KENNEDY &
THE COLD WAR
JFK
FOREIGN
POLICY
JFK COLD WAR FOREIGN POLICY
FLEXIBLE RESPONSE
 JFK felt that Eisenhower had relied
too heavily on nuclear weapons 
he enacts “Flexible response” policy
of containment = additional buildup
of conventional troops & weapons
(regular warfare).
•Costly but allowed U.S. to fight a
limited style of warfare.
 JFK also created the Special Forces,
or Green Berets, a small elite army
unit established in the 1950s to
combat/defend against guerrilla
warfare (guerilla warfare was a
common strategy of Communist
rebels at the time)
OTHER COUNTRIES
 To improve Latin American
relations, JFK proposed the
Alliance for Progress = a
series of cooperative aid
projects with Latin
American governments
 The Peace Corps = created
to help less developed
nations fight poverty,
trained young Americans to
spend 2 years assisting in
a country
THE SPACE RACE
 During this time of increased tension between the United States and
the Soviet Union, the two countries engaged in a space race, with
each country hoping to dominate space to enhance their positions
on Earth.
 Kennedy wanted Americans to be the first to reach the moon, and
he pushed Congress to make it a reality.
 Neil Armstrong = 1 st to step foot on the moon in 1969, during
Nixon’s first administration
CRISES OF THE COLD WAR - BAY OF PIGS
 Cuba & its leader, Fidel Castro, began forming an alliance with
the Soviet Union & its leader, Nikita Khrushchev.
 During Eisenhower’s presidency, the CIA had secretly trained &
armed Cuban exiles known as La Brigada.
 Kennedy’s advisers approved a plan to invade Cuba using La
Brigada.
 On April 17, 1961 , 1 ,400 armed Cuban exiles landed at the Bay
of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba.
 Disaster struck as Kennedy cancelled air support for the exiles
in order to keep U.S. involvement a secret.
 Most of the La Brigada were either killed or captured by Castro ’s
army.
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CRISES OF THE COLD WAR – THE BERLIN
WALL GOES UP
 After meeting with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, JFK refused
to recognize East Germany or to have the United States –along
with Great Britain & France–withdraw from Berlin.
 Soviets retaliated by constructing a wall through Berlin, stopping
movement between the Soviet sector (E. Berlin) & the rest of the
city.
 For the next 30 years, the Berlin Wall symbolized the Cold War
division between East & West.
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CRISES OF THE COLD WAR – THE CUBAN
MISSILE CRISIS
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Summer 1962, American intelligence agencies discovered that Soviet
technicians & equipment had arrived in Cuba, & that military
construction was in progress.
Photographs proved that the Soviets had placed long-range missiles in
Cuba.
Kennedy ordered it stopped, but work on the site continued. JFK
ordered a blockade of Cuba.
Nuclear holocaust was feared. Neither Kennedy nor Khrushchev
wanted World War III.
Kennedy agreed not to invade Cuba & to remove missiles in Turkey.
The Soviets agreed to remove missiles in Cuba.
The Cuban missile crisis, as it became known, brought the world to
the edge of a nuclear war  both sides agreed to work out a plan to
ease tension.
1963 U.S. & U.S.S.R. agreed to a treaty banning the testing of nuclear
weapons in the atmosphere.
The missile crisis led to the demise of Nikita Khrushchev, & the new
Soviet leadership was less interested in reaching agreements with
the West  result was a huge Soviet arms buildup